Hey all! Just throwing out a quick question (or two, lol) I just thought I'd ask what kinds of betta tanks/bowls you guys use. Do you think I could keep one in a 0.5 gallon? I might be going to PetCo tomorrow, and though I'm not positive, my parents might pitch in some $$ to let me get a 0.5 betta tank (no filter, but tons of water changes ) and I think 0.5 gallons is sufficient. Whaddya think??

I kept my bettas in a ten gallon divided tank. you could also do a 5 gallon heated ( SUPER important) and filtered. Its super great for them. you can go as low as 2.5 but the 5 and 10 you could divide for multiple.

Ok, wow.... I was just surfing the web looking up random betta tanks, and I saw a few that were 0.5 gallons and less! I mean, ok, I have a 1 gallon tank for Athena, but I think I maintain it pretty well. But i mean, 0.5 gallons? 0.25 gal? Those people are probably just looking for some elegant little thing they can hang like a chandelier or hook on their dining room wall. BLECH A betta's home, no matter how small the betta, isn't just a showpiece. Although it can be elegant, It's a betta's PERMANENT HOME for Pete's sake!!!! And yes, I know that at the top of this discussion, I asked if a 0.5 gallon would work for me betta. But now even I realize how bad it would be to live in those conditions!!!

Well, it all comes down to the fact that people are ignorant buttheads. *tee hee* The smaller the container, the harder it is to maintain water quality.Not to mention that even if a betta can be kept in a system without filtration/aeration, it still needs room to swim, they grow to be around 7cm, give or take, and they need a minimum of 15 liters (~4 gallons) for the space's sake.Which is why I skipped getting a bowl for Bruce and just put him into the biorb

Well I'm one of those buttheads then I keep my bettas in gallon bowls.I tried a 2 gallon tank for one and ended up putting it in a smaller bowl. It seemed to be so scared in the bigger tank and more secure in the smaller 1 gallon bowl.As long as you do water changes frequently, a 1 gallon bowl would be fine IMO.Remember that in the wild there are droughts where Bettas live and they are puddle jumpers and jump from puddle to puddle as one dries up. They breed and spawn in much less water than a gallon!

I agree with Nossie For breeding purposes (since I am thinking of breeding my bettas really soon) I'll be keeping my male bettas in smaller jars and the females all together in one tank, but this will of course be ver temporary!!

How do you do a water change with a betta bowl? Do you change all the water or just half? Do you siphon the gravel? I've always been interested Main reason I would never but a betta in a bowl after the fact I wouldn't know to clean it, is I am scared of it being knocked over!

I do a complete water change at least once a week. Sometimes more often.I pour the betta in his little cup he came with....never use a net....too stressful!then I dump all the rocks in a strainer and rinse them really well, put fresh water with condtioner in the bowl after I wash it out with water and a soft scrubbie for aquariums, put the rocks and the plant back in and ornament and then put my hand over the cup the betta is in and strain the water in the cup until almost all is out and then gently pour the betta back into his bowl.

I guess I meant by "too stressful" is that nets are abrasive and can strip the slime coat off a fish if used too often.Once a week is too often IMO to use a net. Once the slime coat is stripped from the fish, it exposes the fish to all kinds of bacterial and parasitic, and fungal condtions.

No, they don't need cycled water just fresh, clean treated water.The water in a bowl is never going to cycle if you change it every week, or more often.And there is nothing in the bowl for bacteria to get established.

What? Why?? Haha my mind is bamboozled Why don't they need cycled water? Is it because of the environment they come from?? Those tough little betta's I never knew that, are they the only fish like that?

Because, you have to clean the bowl every week at least! Every time you clean the bowl, you would be disturbing any bacteria being established, thus ruining the cycle. Now I'm talking about a 1-2 gallon bowl. It would never cycle...too small amount of water.You could just take cycled water from your tank for your betta but it won't stay cycled long with your betta pooping like normal in it. Your betta should be fine in fresh clean water and ammonia shouldn't even show up for a week or more! And by then it's time to clean the bowl again!

Yeah, probably if you fed him a handful of food and he didn't eat it all! If you're going to keep a betta in a bowl, then you should really buy a water condtioner that neutralizes ammonia and nitrites.Mine does. I've tested my betta water before I changed their bowl, and I have not had any ammonia or nitrites or nitrates in it. I clean it to often for them to show up. Cycling takes a month or so, but you wouldn't want to leave your poor betta in dirty water, that long.

Bettas need cycled tanks like every other fish, but the thing here is that the bowl is being maintained too often for the ammonia to become a threat I will be keeping my Bruce in a baby biorb later (15L) which will have a small filter cartridge and gravel, so that will of course need to cycle and then work like a usual tank, but when it comes to a bowl, and especially a smaller bowl, the water will become unfresh much faster. Of course the bettas live in small mud puddles in the wild, but that doesn't mean you should let them live in a dirty bowl

All our bettas got gravel in their bowls and a small UG filter which holds activated carbon in it. The filter runs with gentle airbubbles. Also got a mini-syphon to clean the gravel. And all their bowls are planted with life plants.

I do 50% waterchanges every week using betta conditioner, also added Stability. So their water will be cycled.

Yeah thats fine Hanna, and it probably well be but can't be cycled if you used glass bobbles like me and some other peeps use and no filter. Bacteria has to find a home and if you syphon the water and use gravel then your bacteria will find a home and start breeding hence the cycling. Also having a filter will help the bacteria will find a home in the filter media too.